Lakeway outlines next steps for 6 charter amendments, road tax

Lakeway officials are sharing what the city’s next steps will be after a charter election was held May 3, in which six out of seven proposed amendments were approved by voters, pending final vote certification.

The overview

A summary of propositions and results of the May 3 election includes:

• Proposition A: 2,758 voters in favor, 600 against. Reauthorizes a local sales tax, at the rate of 0.25%, to fund road maintenance projects in the city.
• Proposition B: 2,071 voters in favor, 1,272 against. Revises residency requirements for the city manager, requiring that the individual occupying this position reside within the boundaries of Lake Travis ISD, rather than within Lakeway’s city limits.
• Proposition C: 2,143 voters in favor, 1,124 against. Eliminates the city treasurer role, and allows the finance director and finance department to assume that position’s duties.
• Proposition D: 1,650 voters in favor, 1,612 against. Revises the approval process for police department policies and procedures to require approval from the city manager rather than City Council, with the city manager reporting any new changes to council within 10 days of approval.
• Proposition E: 2,042 voters in favor, 1,146 against. Standardizes appointments of individuals to boards and commissions in such a way that each City Council member will appoint one individual to each board or commission for a term of one year, with the mayor’s appointee serving as the chair of each board or commission.
• Proposition F: 1,386 voters in favor, 1,867 against. Eliminates the city’s Board of Ethics while maintaining that the city must still adopt a city ethics ordinance.
• Proposition G: 1,679 voters in favor, 1,523 against. Eliminates the City Building Commission, with duties of that commission being assigned either to the city’s Zoning and Planning Commission, Board of Adjustment, or Building and Development Services director.

What’s next?

With propositions A, B, C, D, E and G approved, according to unofficial voting results from Travis County, the city will now move forward with incorporating updated language into the city charter and code of ordinances.

“Several of these propositions are going to require amendments to the code of ordinances,” City Manager Joseph Molis said. “Staff and the city attorney are going to have to go through and make those corrections. In discussing that with the mayor, we're looking at that coming out in June.”

Discussions around the ordinance updates, and possibly adoption of them, will take place at the city’s June 16 regular council meeting, Molis said.

Proposition E, which allows city council members to appoint members to boards or commissions, will also be discussed at the meeting, with council members beginning to nominate their appointments.

Those opposed

All propositions have been approved by voters excluding Proposition F, which involved eliminating the city’s board of ethics. Some of the reasoning behind the removal related to the fact that the city’s code of ethics already follows state law and that there are already state law mechanisms for enforcing ethics, City Manager Joseph Molis said.

However, voting totals show residents voted against this, favoring keeping the board in place.

“I think the arguments that I saw online and that I heard from citizens was, 'That's all well and good, but we have the ability to be stricter than state law,’” Molis said. “That’s kind of a discussion I saw online. Since that one did not appear to pass, it looks like we'll just continue with our normal process.”

What else?

The city’s mayor and council members ran unopposed in the election this year. All members will be sworn in at the city’s May 19 regular meeting.